Drapery pinhook tool with movable magazine

ABSTRACT

A handheld two-piece tool for installing drapery pinhooks. A magazine holds a supply of pinhooks, and is slidably mounted on a handle to deliver a pinhook to a retainer on the handle which places the pinhook in a driving position. The movable magazine simplifies construction of the tool and eliminates separate drive plates used in conventional tools.

Uite "1 States iatent [191 Niel v[ Jan. 23, 1973 [54] DRAPERY PINHO0K TOOL WITH [56] References Cited MOVABLE MAGAZINE UNITED STATES PATENTS 'ygj fflgfigg ggg fi fiaj hgi b i 3,209,947 10/1965 Trujillo ..221/191 3,353,736 11/1967 Bauer ..227/l07 [73] Assignee: George F. MeMurray, Glendale,

1 C lif, Primary ExaminerRobert B. Reeves I Assistant Examiner-Thomas E. Kocovsky [22] Filed: March 30, 1971 Attorney-Christie, Parker & Hale [21] Appl.No.: 129,510 [57] ABSTRACT A handheld two-piece tool for installing drapery pinhooks. A magazine holds a supply of pinhooks, and is [52] U.S. Cl. ..221/l97, 221/255, 227/107 slidably mounted on a handle to deliver a pinhook to a [51] Int. Cl. .BZSC 5/00 retainer on the handle which places the pinhook in a Field of Search driving position. The movable magazine simplifies 227/107; 221/187, 196, 197, 209, 246, 255, construction of the tool and eliminates separate drive plates used in conventional tools.

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH23 I975 3.712.509

' SHEET 1 BF 2 I N VENTOR.

4124M MFA DRAIERY PINHOOK TOOL WI'III MOVABLE MAGAZINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Pinhook tools are used to force wire pinhooks into drapes or other heavy fabrics which are to be hung from a traverse rod. Magazine-loaded tools for professional use are known, and several styles are disclosed in US. Pat. Nos. 3,209,947 and 3,332,598. These tools are very satisfactory for routine use by drapery installers, but they are too costly for occasional household use.

Simple single-pinhook tools such as disclosed in my US. Pat. No. 3,546,981 have proved satisfactory for nonprofessional use, but these tools are slow to use as the pinhooks must be individually handled and loaded,

and there is no convenient storage space for a supply of pinhooks. There thus exists a need for an intermediate tool which is of inexpensive, throw-away construction, but which includes the advantages of semi-automatic operation and magazine loading as featured in professional-grade tools.

The tool of this invention meets this need, and is made of two molded plastic parts for economical manufacture. Separate drive plates and other pinhookshuttling mechanisms used in known magazine-loaded tools are eliminated by making a magazine of the new tool movable with respect to a tool handle. The tool is thumb-operated to reciprocate the magazine and deliver individual pinhooks from the magazine to a holder or retainer on the handle. The tool is sufficiently inexpensive that it can be sold as a storage container for a supply of pinhooks, and thrown away when the supply is exhausted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, the tool of this invention includes a handle member having a handgrip and a pinhook receiving portion which is fixed in position with respect to the handgrip. A magazine adapted to hold a plurality of pinhooks is mounted on the handle member to be movable between a loading position and a dispensing position. The pinhook-receiving portion of the handle member is formed to receive a pinhook from the magazine when the magazine is moved to the loading position, and to hold the'pinhook during installation and release the pinhook after installation when the magazine is in the dispensing position.

The handle member includes a means for retaining the magazine, and for guiding the magazine during movement between the loading and dispensing positions. Preferably, a stop is provided between the handle member and magazine to limit motion of the magazine. In a preferred form, the pinhook-receiving portion is a plate extending from the handgrip and having a raised land thereon to fit within a pinhook.

The magazine is preferably an integrally molded unit having a post to hold an align a supply of pinhooks. An actuating means such as a slotted knob extends from the magazine so the user's thumb can move the magazine between the loading and dispensing positions. A pinhook which has been installed in a drapery is withdrawn from the tool through a clearance opening defined by the slotted knob.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of a pinhook tool according to the invention, showing a pinhook loaded in a dispensing position ready for insertion in a drapery;

FIG. 2 is an elevation taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, showing the tool after the pinhook has been installed in a drapery and removed from the tool;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing a magazine of the tool moved forward to a loading position in preparation for dispensing a second pinhook;

FIG. 4 is an elevation of a handle member of the tool;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the handle member taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an elevation (partly broken away) of a magazine for the tool; and

FIG. 7 is an end view of the magazine on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A pinhook tool 10 is shown in FIGS. 1-3, and is of two-piece construction including a pinhook magazine 11 and a handle member 12. The tool is used to install drapery pinhooks 13 of a conventional style as typified in FIG. 7. Each pinhook 13 is made of heavy wire, and includes a pointed shank 14, a generally U-shaped hook portion 15, and a curved base 16 which joins the shank and hook portion. The arms or sides of the hook portion converge toward each other slightly to form a narrowed opening to the interior of the hook portion.

Magazine 11 is a hollow box or case which is preferably integrally molded from a plastic material such as high-impact polystyrene. Referring to FIGS. 6-7, one end 19 of the magazine is open, and the other end of the magazine is closed by an end wall 20. A tubular pinhook post or rack 21 extends from end wall 20 to open end 19 of the magazine. A supply of pinhooks 13 are fitted over rack 21, and are confined and aligned by the rack and the walls of the magazine.

A guide rib 23 extends from a lower wall 24 of the magazine. knob 25 extends upwardly and outwardly from an upper wall 26 of the magazine. A clearance slot 27 (see FIGS. 2 and 7) is formed in a forward end of knob 25. A ramp-shaped stop 28 extends upwardly from upper wall 26 adjacent knob 25. 1

Handle member 12 is shown in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5, and is preferably integrally molded from a plastic material-such as high-impact polystyrene. The handle member includes an elongated handgrip portion 32 having a hole 33 at one end so the tool can be hung from a peg when not in use. The forward end of the handgrip portion defines a recess 34 which permits access of the users thumb to knob 25 on the magazine (see FIG. 3). A tab 35 extends forwardly from the end of the handgrip portion, and the underside of the tab defines an elongate slot or channel 36 (seen in phantom in FIGS. 4-5).

A plate 38 extends from handgrip portion 32, and a forward portion of the plate defines a cavity or recess 40. A rib or land 41 extends upwardly within recess 40, and the land fits within hook portion 15 of a pinhook (as suggested in phantom view in FIG. 4). A shoulder or shelf 42 atone end of land 41 provides a stop which abuts curved base 16 of the pinhook. Recess 40 and land 41 form a retainer or pinhook-receiving portion which holds single pinhooks delivered from the magazine as explained below.

A flange 45 extends laterally from the lower end of the inner surface of plate 38, and a guide slot 46 is formed in the flange to receive guide rib 23 on the magazine. A tapered stiffening wall 47 extends from handgrip portion 32 to plate 38 and flange 45.

Magazine 11 is loaded with a supply of pinhooks l3, and is then fitted on handle member 12 as shown in FIGS. 1-3. The plastic material forming handle member 12 is slightly flexible so tab 35 can flex upwardly to permit stop 28 on the magazine to fit into channel 36 of the tab. The magazine is thus made captive on the handle member by stop 28, but the magazine is free to slide within the limits of channel 36 between a pinhook loading position (see FIG. 3) and a retracted or pinhook dispensing position (see FIGS. 1 and 2). With the parts thus assembled, the undersurface of knob 25 rests on the top of plate 38 and guide rib 23 fits in guide slot 46 so the magazine can be reciprocated smoothly and easily between the pinhook loading and dispensing positions.

When the magazine is retracted as shown in FIG. 2, pinhooks are confined within the magazine by the inner surface of plate 38. In use, the magazine is first moved forwardly by the users thumb to the loading position shown in FIG. 3. The tool is held so the magazine is vertical, and gravity urges the stack of pinhooks downwardly so the lowermost pinhook drops into recess 40 on the plate with land 41 fitting within hook portion (see FIG. 4). Alternatively, a spring (not shown) or other resilient member may be used in the magazine to urge the stack of pinhooks against plate 38, but this is normally unnecessary as the tool is conventionally held with the magazine vertical when pinhooks are being inserted in a drapery material.

The magazine is then retracted into the pinhook-' dispensing position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this position of the magazine, shank 14 of the pinhook is exposed as it extends slightly beyond the front of plate 38 (see FIG. 1), and the shank can then be inserted in a drapery or other fabric material. The hook is held securely during the insertion process by shelf 42 which abuts curved base 16 on the pinhook, and by land 41 which holds the pinhook between the inner surface'of plate 38 and end 19 of the magazine. When the pinhook shank is fully inserted in the drapery, the tool is withdrawn and the driven pinhook slides out of the tool through clearance slot 27 in a direction indicated by arrow 50in FIG. 1.

There has been described a simple two-piece drapery pinhook tool which is economical to manufacture and simple to operate for household use. In contrast to previous designs which have used separate drive plates to convey pinhooks from a stationary magazine, the tool of this invention is characterized by a movable magazine which transfers pinhooks directly to a stationary retaining land on the tool handle.

What is claimed is:

1. A hand-held tool for installing drapery pinhooks, comprising:

a handle member having a handgrip portion and a pinhook-receiving portion, the portions being in fixed position with respect to each other; and a magazine adapted to hole a supply of stacked pmhooks and being mounted on the handle member to be reciprocatively and linearly movable between a loading position and a dispensing position;

the pinhook-receiving portion being formed to receive a pinhook from the magazine when the magazine is extended into the loading position, and to hold the pinhook during installation and release the pinhook after installation when the magazine is retracted into the dispensing position.

2. The tool defined in claim I in which the handle member includes means for retaining the magazine on the handle member, and for guiding the magazine during movement between the loading and dispensing positions.

3. The tool defined in claim 2 in which the pinhookreceiving portion is a plate extending from the handgrip portion and having a raised land thereon to fit within a pinhook.

4. The tool defined in claim 3 in which the magazine is an integral unit including a post to hold and align the supply of pinhooks, and a knob extending from the magazine to enable movement of the magazine with respect to the handle member between the loading and dispensing positions; and in which the handle member is of integral construction.

5. The tool defined in claim 4 in which the magazine knob is slotted to define a clearance space through which a pinhook can be withdrawn from the tool after the pinhook is inserted in a drapery.

6. The tool defined in claim 5 in which the retaining means on the handle member includes a tab extending from the handgrip portion over the magazine, and in which a stop means is provided between the tab and magazine to limit motion of the magazine. 

1. A hand-held tool for installing drapery pinhooks, comprising: a handle member having a handgrip portion and a pinhookreceiving portion, the portions being in fixed position with respect to each other; and a magazine adapted to hole a supply of stacked pinhooks and being mounted on the handle member to be reciprocatively and linearly movable between a loading position and a dispensing position; the pinhook-receiving portion being formed to receive a pinhook from the magazine when the magazine is extended into the loading position, and to hold the pinhook during installation and release the pinhook after installation when the magazine is retracted into the dispensing position.
 2. The tool defined in claim 1 in which the handle member includes means for retaining the magazine on the handle member, and for guiding the magazine during movement between the loading and dispensing positions.
 3. The tool defined in claim 2 in which the pinhook-receiving portion is a plate extending from the handgrip portion and having a raised land thereon to fit within a pinhook.
 4. The tool defined in claim 3 in which the magazine is an integral unit including a post to hold and align the supply of pinhooks, and a knob extending from the magazine to enable movement of the magazine with respect to the handle member between the loading and dispensing positions; and in which the handle member is of integral construction.
 5. The tool defined in claim 4 in which the magazine knob is slotted to define a clearance space through which a pinhook can be withdrawn from the tool after the pinhook is inserted in a drapery.
 6. The tool defined in claim 5 in which the retaining means on the handle member includes a tab extending from the handgrip portion over the magazine, and in which a stop means is provided between the tab and magazine to limit motion of the magazine. 